Why Battlefield 1's Update May Change

The May update for Battlefield 1 is right around the corner. Right now it's currently going through the certification process, but it has a number of new changes in the works that will drastically change how some player-vs-player encounters will play out, as well as some major tweaks to the bayonet charge.

Gamespot did a quick rundown of the key changes set to arrive in the upcoming update for Battlefield 1 that DICE will roll out ahead of the major DLC expansion due this summer called "In The Name of the Tsar".

The biggest change that they've made is a reduction to the defense buff that bayonet chargers receive when plowing into another player. There's a 15% damage reduction buff that players receive in Battlefield 1, and DICE has now removed this bonus. Many gamers hated the buff and felt it was cheating because it would require several extra shots to down someone who was charging with the bayonet.

DICE also may look into changing a visual indication in the game to let players know that someone is charging at them. They don't have a solution right now but they are exploring various options to make the notification more visually apparent to players during gameplay. This may change by the time the update rolls out, however.

Another big change is being able to repeat-play playlists under a new option called Operation Playlists. This allows players to stay on the same server with the same group of players and repeat the exact same Operation, only they'll switch sides before going at it. The Operation Playlist can loop the session over and over until players choose to quit. It's being reported that DICE will be adding more Operations to this particular playlist so players can cycle through and play different Operations if they want, but otherwise, they can keep repeat-playing the same Operation in Battlefield 1. This is pretty handy if you enjoyed playing against or with certain players and you don't want to leave a full server or risk the fate set upon you with the randomization of matchmaking.

They'll also be making some tweaks and changes to the overall netcode ahead of launching "In the Name of the Tsar". This includes an all new server/client hit-detection algorithm that will perform a check and calculation on whether or not the ping of the client is under 130ms, and whether to mitigate calculations server-side or client-side. This is a really cool way to deal with latency in an online multiplayer game like Battlefield 1 because someone with high latency will have their hit-detection offset to the server. Those playing with 130ms latency or lower will have hit-detection happen client-side. Client-side calculations also mean that you'll have closer 1:1 aiming to fire ratios, as opposed to the lag-lead aiming technique required when dealing with server-side calculations.

Additionally, they'll be swapping gadgets between Dogfighter and Bomber Killer classes, and they've brought parity to the self-repair feature on all the tanks -- they now receive 200 health across the board for every five seconds of repair. Flag points will count less during Conquest, but holding the most points will supposedly provide an additional point bonus, and Domination ticket counts have increased from 100 to 200.

Once the update for Battlefield 1 has been certified it's expected to roll out before May is out, working as a prerequisite platform for the big summer roll-out featuring the Russian faction.